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May 23, 2003
A New Chapter?
The emergence of India and Pakistan as two sovereign states in 1947 had a singular purpose: to facilitate a new political equation between Hindus and Muslims so that the two could live in peace. Partition was envisioned as a new experiment in peaceful co-existence in the subcontinent - not an ideal solution to the seething animosity between religious extremists but one that went a considerable way towards ushering a wholesome change on the political front.
Ungrudgingly, the prime objective of the scheme was to ensure the rights of the people inhabiting the two countries, including the sizable Hindu and Muslim minorities in Pakistan and India respectively. The partition plan did not provide for an exchange of population. Nor did it seek to generate anew religious animosity between the two major segments of the population - Hindus and Muslims.
For well over fifty years sincere and sustained strivings were made for peace in the Indo-Pak subcontinent and for fifty years well-meaning initiatives were scuttled with no remorse or compunction.
But commentators on both sides of the divide have not been hesitant in calling a spade a spade. Kuldip Nayyer, a senior Indian journalist, conceded in one of his articles sometime back: “Whatever the objective reality, the international community wants India to sit across the table with Pakistan to sort out all our problems, including Kashmir. Already some signs of exasperation with New Delhi are beginning to appear in the American and British press. What Vajpayee can offer to Musharraf is difficult to quantify because Vajpayee has lost the stature he had even six months ago. The hardliners in the BJP are the real rulers. But they too realize that the status quo cannot continue. The continued detention of Yasin Malik is not understandable. This is not the way to retrieve the Kashmiris most of whom are alienated from India. There have to be talks….” This piece was written sometime back. Mr. Vajpayee seems to think and act differently today. He has provided some evidence of change of heart in the last few weeks.
Yet one is reminded of India’s past belligerent posture time and again. The show of force, as the concentration of Indian troops on Pakistan’s borders for an extended period recently, did not go unnoticed by principled analysts. Lest this assertion be mistaken for a partisan viewpoint, here is what an Indian observer, C. Rammanohar Reddy, wrote in The Hindu: “The illusion that a country can beat the drums of war and yet assume that normal life will go on was at last shattered last week. The cost of a war finally begun to hurt most the very groups which have been the most enthusiastic supporters of an open conflict with Pakistan - the urban upper middle and wealth class. A common belief among those who support an open war is that if (the) US can wage war on Afghanistan and Israel on Palestine, there is no reason why India should not likewise attack Pakistan. Setting aside the absence of a moral compass that underlies this argument, it should be obvious that as far as the economy is concerned India is not the US or for that matter even Israel. Globalization imposes its own decrees and a distaste for war between two developing countries is one of them…”
A Times of India report made a similar realistic appraisal: Standing committee members were told that given the ground realities, a short surgical strike, either against terrorist camps in Pak-occupied Kashmir or against strategic targets in Pakistan, was not possible. The war was bound to be a prolonged one unless interrupted by a nuclear strike or heavy international pressure, representatives of the Army, Navy and Air Force reportedly said.
These reports are not of a recent origin. They appeared a few months back. Yet today they do provide the rationale for the changing political climate in the subcontinent. Are we on the threshold of a new era in India-Pakistan relations? There are several indications that inspire one to shed pessimism.
The thrill, according to the Economist, was palpable after the unexpected announcement on May 2nd by Atal Behari Vajpayee, India’s prime minister, that he wanted to start a “decisive and conclusive dialogue” aimed at ending the decades of hostility between his country and Pakistan. Zafarullah Jamali, Pakistan’s prime minister, smartly responded with a ten-minute telephone call to Mr. Vajpayee, and a letter which talked about curbing terrorism and proposed a summit in Islamabad.
Blissfully, a Pakistani parliamentary delegation visiting India has been received with open arms. According to MNA Ishaq Khan Khakwani, Indians from different walks of life have showered utmost affection on members of the delegation the moment they crossed over to India. Former diplomats and intellectuals like Naresh Chandra, S.K.Singh, G. Parthasarthy, Ashok Bhan, Vijay Grover et al. have received them with utmost respect.
Then there is the Indian film producer who intends to make a film in Pakistan. According to the BBC, Indian director Mahesh Bhatt is hoping to make the first ever Indian film shot entirely in Pakistan - a project he described as a “South Asian Schindler’s List”. Bhatt’s film will be about the true story of a Muslim who saved the lives of 200 Sikhs during the riots that took place in 1947. “So I sourced my inspiration from that brave, anonymous policeman, and I felt that in a country where we have demonized the Pakistanis in our movies, it’s time to look at them affectionately.”
“It’s time we paid a tribute to them - and learned something from them.”
In Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg filmed the story of a German businessman who saved about 1,000 Jews by employing them in a munitions factory. “I was wanting to make a South Asian Schindler,” Bhatt told BBC World Service’s World Today program. “After being exposed to hundreds of movies which looked at Germans as demons, finally came a film which saw a German with a golden heart. That made the world weep.”
Bhatt hopes to achieve something similar when his film is shown in India, which would highlight Pakistani bravery towards Indians even at the height of tensions during partition in 1947. A noble enterprise, indeed.
.One sincerely hopes such peace-making efforts would bear fruit. Hindus and Muslims were not born to nurse eternal hate for one another. Nor are hate and intolerance central to the teachings of Islam and Hinduism. Both Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mahatama Gandhi did not envision the two nations to remain at loggerheads for all time to come. Regretfully, year after year developmental efforts have been scuttled and precious resources wasted in defense-oriented undertakings.
With a little change of heart India could play a decisive role in resolving the long-lingering dispute of Kashmir - in accordance with the wishes of the people. For that is what democracy is all about.
- afaruqui@pakistanlink.com
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